Hinkley: Terry and Susie Burns want to stay

Husband and wife Terry and Susie Burns stand in their front yard in Hinkley on Monday, March 25, 2013. The Burns grew up in Hinkley and have lived in the town since the 1960s.
Rachel Luna — Staff Photographer

Terry Burns is an unusual Hinkley resident. He wants to buy property there.

Burns and his wife, Susie, have lived in the same house in Hinkley since 1987.

They raised three boys in the house and have no plans to leave.

In fact, Terry Burns has approached Pacific Gas & Electric Co. about selling them the empty lot next door.

Those neighbors are long gone and the house was demolished as part of the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. buyout program.

The Burns are taking the other option, signing up for the whole household replacement water system, a sophisticated water purification device that PG&E will underwrite for five years. After that, it's uncertain who maintains and pays for the system.

With the neighbor gone, Terry Burns wants to pick up two-plus acres adjacent to his house.

"It will be good to control the property," he said. And he and Susie might want to keep a cow or two on the property.

The Burns don't mind that houses on their street are rapidly disappearing and that the informal neighborhood watch program has become more like a "watch your neighbor go."

Burns is a supervisor at a borax mine about 38 miles away and plans on retiring in eight years.

"Who knows what it will be like then. The whole thing may just turn around. If not, we'll probably stay right here," he said.